Olivia Gonzalez Marijuan grew up in Madrid, speaks English because every Spanish student starts learning it at age three, and arrived in Byron last September knowing almost no one. By the time she leaves in June, she will have played JV basketball, competed in three FFA state contests, taken horticulture and astronomy classes that don't exist in any form back home, and developed a strong opinion on casseroles. She is not a fan. Sloppy Joes, on the other hand, she has fully embraced.

Olivia is 15 and a sophomore — technically the equivalent of her fourth  year of secondary school in Spain, where the system runs primary school through sixth grade, secondary through tenth, and then two critical final years before university. She came to Byron at exactly the right time to spend a year away without missing the grades that matter most. The exchange program placed her with the Mayborne family — Josh and Nicki, along with their daughter Hadlea, who has already graduated, and sons Jaxson , a freshman at Byron High School, and Cooper, currently in eighth grade. Having a host brother already in the building helped.

The contrast between school in Madrid and school in Byron surprised her more than she expected. In Spain, every student takes the same core classes — mathematics, science, Spanish, and English — with little room to choose. Here, Olivia signed up for horticulture, astronomy, and art. "I like that I can choose what I want to do," she says. "In Spain, we really can't choose. Everyone has the same classes." She also joined the girls' JV basketball team, something entirely unavailable to her at home. In Spain, she plays club ball twice a week. Here, practice runs five days a week. "You get to learn more," she says, without any complaint in her voice. She notes, with characteristic directness, that the level of play is higher here too.

FFA has been the biggest surprise of the year. Olivia had no agricultural background coming in — Madrid is a city of millions, apartments, and public transit — but she threw herself into it anyway. She competed in dairy judging, horse judging, horticulture, and veterinary science. At the state vet science contest, her team placed third. "It's really different from anything I've ever done," she says of FFA. "I'm learning new things about animals and crops." For a future pilot who grew up walking everywhere in a European capital, learning to evaluate livestock is about as far outside the comfort zone as a year abroad can take someone. She seems to consider that a feature, not a flaw.

The pilot dream is specific. Olivia wants to fly commercial aircraft — the big planes — and has thought through the practical path to get there. She could train in Madrid, but she has family in Miami, and training there makes financial sense. She plans to study and earn her license in Miami, work there for a while, and eventually return to Spain. She has already traveled widely for someone her age, having visited England, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Argentina, among other places. Crossing the Atlantic regularly as a career seems like a natural extension.

What she misses most about home, asked without hesitation, is jamón — the Spanish cured ham that she says she's heading straight to the supermarket to buy the day she lands back in Madrid. Her mother, a lawyer, has managed her absence with help from their Miniature Pinscher, Antoine, who likes to bark. The apartment building has six floors. Life in a small Illinois town, where you need a car to get anywhere, and houses are common, has been a study in contrast.

She likes Byron. She's clear about that. She likes the people, and she likes the school. But she's also honest: if she could choose, she'd choose a big city. She's counting on Chicago before she leaves. She still hasn't gone. June is coming. There's still time.